How to Get Higher Conversions from Your Emails and Marketing

One is a bad number in your business when you only have one person on your team. It’s a bad number when your only product fails on its latest launch. Or when your ONE client gets hit with a disaster and has to stop being your client.

So yeah, there are plenty of ways that one is not a great number in your business.

However, the number one is the ONLY number when it comes to conversion from email marketing. Especially if your emails aren’t getting great responses or click-throughs.

How so?

Well, nine times out of ten, when I review client emails that are not getting great responses, the problem is that the email is confusing. There are too many calls to action, and there’s too much going on.

In other words, when you’re sending out an email, think about that ONE thing you want them to get, or want your reader to do with this email.

Similarly…

When they come to your Facebook page, what is the one thing you want them to do?

When they come to your blog (you’ve been working so hard to keep up on those killer posts), do you just want them to read your post and leave on their merry way? Or do you want them to leave you a comment, so that you can have a conversation with them?

Sounds great, right?

Well, hold on a minute. Focusing on just one thing is not always so easy.

This is where the SOFT part of business success comes into play. I call this the “SOUL TRACK” of your business. It’s where you unknowingly get in your own way. We’re going to go there now.

Many entrepreneurs operate from a place of lack, and they don’t even realize it. What happens in that place of lack is that they grab. They fear. They can’t be clear because [gasp] “Oh, my God, when they come to my website they should know I do this and they should know I do this and they should see all my free offers… and I have to just tell them EVERYTHING!”

So, ask yourself, “Am I operating from a place of lack? Am I fearful? Am I scared because people are going to come to my site and not know all of the brilliant things that I can do?’ ”

Turn that around.

Ask yourself instead: “What is the one thing I want them to do when they read this email?” “What is the one thing I want my customer or client or prospect to do when they visit my website?” “What is the one next step?”

Instead of fire-hosing them, think of one as the MOST powerful number in your business.

Typically, if you have a lot to say when you’re sending an email, what it means is that you’re not communicating enough. Yes, that’s right! You’re not sending out enough communications. If you’re only sending an email out once a month and you have 18 things you need to let somebody know about, news items, dates, whatever you’re doing, then you’re not communicating with your list often enough.

What you really need to do is take it down into bite-sized portions. Once a week. Without fail, your ideal clients are going to consume your content a lot easier, and they’ll be happy, and they’ll love you so much more for honoring your business and serving them at a higher level.

So now here’s one thing I want you to do right now. (Aw, come on! You KNEW I had to do that!)…

Leave me a comment below and tell me your ‘yeah but’… or if you’re already doing this have you noticed that it’s really working for your clients?

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in July, 2015 and has been given a slight makeover to keep it fresh and current.

Thanks, Christine! I just returned from your UpLevel Your Business event in Atlanta and have gained tremendous clarity!!! This post on the idea of asking for ONE thing is so helpful! I can’t wait to implement this and post my results! You ROCK Christine Kane!!!

dumb computer question-
when I put in the link for the client to click on it takes them to a page that says Sorry No page available.http://www.facebook.com/…/Inner-Loop-Laundry
I don’t know how to make it work so that they click on the link and they are on my Inner Loop Laundry Facebook page.
Any advice?

I definitely agree that it is important not to confuse the message and only try to get your customers to do one thing per email, but personally I’m not that keen on receiving an email newsletter every week. Even if I initially loved it, I usually stop reading it because it starts to look like junk when it’s constantly appearing in my inbox. Once every few weeks is great, or 2-3 emails one week and then nothing for a few weeks but I even have a company (Mooncup, look them up, they’re awesome) that sends out an email only once or twice a year and I ALWAYS read it because I love what they do, the newsletter is always interesting, and I especially love the fact that they respect my inbox space.

It clarified my world and I now have the most simple “call to action” flow chart.

If it is in my autoresponder, it’s goal is to get people to a post on my website, which thanks to this program, often filters folks into a fremium class/premium sales funnel. Obviously, at the end, the cta is “buy.”

If it’s on my website, the focus is always “please share.”

If it’s exclusive content on my autoresponder (meaning, it doesn’t link them back to my blog, but instead is a whole exclusive article sent directly to their email and only available to subscribers), always has a cta of “please share.”

My biggest breakthrough that this allowed is that I hate the whole social media thing, and would rather spend my time having an “office hour” phone conference with 20 of my peeps, than wasting time trolling twitter which just exhausts me, so I have absolutely no CTA that encourages conversation…but events will cover that. At least I hope it will.

Ann over at homeschool cheer dot com

p.s. Christine, I owe my entire business plan to you and I can’t wait to visit someday soon.

Great information and perfect timing for me. I’m fine tuning my site after a quck lauch to have a reference for conference attendees and collected about 100 new names at the conference to send eZine to. Just thinking about the format today. And definitely need to re-work how things are offered on my site. Onward and upward.

Great post and it’s perfect timing, as I’m starting once again to blog. I have the content, my struggle was how to put an effective email together and what do I want to share. I’m looking through great examples that come my way and I’m getting prepared to start a weekly email. I’m embarrassed to admit, but here goes…I have mail chimp already to go…just never had the right optin, and I have no idea how many people have actually “opted in” because I was confused on my direction. SO no more! As they say… _____ or get off the pot. It’s time to stop comparing and start doing.
Thanks for the tips. Love your content.
Lisa 🙂

In my eZine I start the first section with some personal notes.
Then in the next section there is some product/program I´m offering (not always the same) and people have to click for more details
In the followig section is the first half of my blog for that week and people have to click “read more” to get the rest of the blog and then they are on my webpage.
I get fairly high click rate for the blog but not the product/program part…
Any suggestions?

In my enewsletter to peeps (which I have been sending once a week) I have one topic and the signup/freebie download. I have honed my focus on the blogs to a more defined focus for my consultancy.

My next goal is to get enough topics together to relaunch as a vlog. My yeah-but is probably with the web site. I whittled it down after doing UYB, but need to hone it more. I do have a lack demon that I push way back in the closet, that rears its ugly head about once a year when I get a little slow down—fear of where and when the next ideal peep will show up.

I pretty consistently blog 1 or 2 times a week. I always suggest one or two things to do at the end of the blog. (Sign up for the VFO or to attend a teleseminar for example). Do I get results? Not so much. I rarely have comments or can I tell that anyone followed through. However, I have do have people tell me they read my blog. Maybe I just don’t have enough traffic yet for follow through? I’m not sure if this is a yeah but …. or not.

Ok this is very helpful. I send my landscape clients a blog post and put it on FB once a quarter, but I never get a response. In person people tell me how well I write and that they blog made them feel good, but no comments or actions occur.

I try to do this every week. some weeks are better than others…. I also don’t like blogs that have ton of crap on their sidebar. It’s always distracting from the main content. Thanks for the great reminder!

As I’m thinking about sending out multiple emails each month, do you think it’s best to keep with the same “look/template” for every email, or do you think it’s better to mix up the looks? Right now I have a template I’ve been using for our monthly emails. When I begin to send out “single topic” emails should I change up a bit so it keeps within our branding but doesn’t look like the newsletter template?Appreciate your feedback! Thanks! Cindy

Wow. Lots to think about here. I’m really liking that simple question “what is the one thing I want them to do?” My immediate “Yeah, but…was that I don’t have time to do more than 1 monthly newsletter.” Which is the truth. BUT…I have a new assistant who I could probably train to do weekly emails. I’m thinking I could still do the monthly version, then have her pull from that to do single topic emails. You’ve succeeded in getting my creative mind going! Thanks for that!!

Thanks for this! I’m just starting as a Life/Health coach and have included a weekly email entitled, “Agent Of Change” in my first private client package. Of course I have no idea what this will actually be, and have no clients yet, but will have my first informational presentation at a local Chiropractic office in 2 weeks so I guess I’d better get crackin. Lack of courage is my demon but I will overcome it.

Just a thought here. Instead of telling yourself that you have a “lack of courage” (which clearly, you DON’T) – how about, “Now I am turning my courage into confidence, as I prepare for my first presentation…”

Action is experience. Experience is learning. Learning leads to confidence.

I was just thinking that I can seem to get a response on my emails or my blog anymore. Not only is my writing becoming boring I think this is a big issue. Thanks Christine, I am going to approach it differently and try this clarity approach and see if that doesnt help not only simplify my newsletters but not overwhelm the reader.

Hey Krista! How about if I ask you to answer that question for yourself? As a coach, I rarely tell someone what’s going on for them. It COULD BE that you are coming from a place of lack if you always feel like you’re not enough. Though it could also be a deep seated shame. Check in with yourself and ask yourself in any given moment of wanting to firehose someone or brag on your credentials or prove yourself… “am i feeling lack here? is this a loving place to come from? Or one of ‘not enough’?”